Artificial lighting in industrial countries currently consumes 27% to 40% of the electricity budget for both commercial and residential users. As a result new ways are being sought to reduce energy consumption associated with artificial lighting. One way of reducing energy consumption is to control the lighting based on time of day, usage patterns, by agreement with the utility company, etc. Controlling artificial lighting for other reasons (e.g., architectural emphasis, security, emergency situations, visual acuity, or scene illumination) is also becoming more commonplace and may be controlled based on one or more parameters (e.g., time, user preference).
Inexpensive dimmer switches are available which may be directly connected to one or more lights for controlling the luminance level or lighting intensity output by the lights. However, these switches are typically manually operable and therefore are not effective for scene control, energy savings, or more sophisticated uses (e.g., periodic or demand-based changes) on a regular basis.
More sophisticated systems are available, but require extensive wiring. Such systems are expensive to install and maintain. In addition, these systems typically cannot be operated using remote or wireless controls.